XXL Magazine has released their official 2014 Freshmen cover. The list of artists included are as follows: Chance the Rapper, Isaiah Rashad, Ty Dolla $ign, Rich Homie Quan, Vic Mensa, August Alsina, Troy Ave, Kevin Gates, Lil Bibby, Jon Connor, Lil Durk, and fan pick, Jarren Benton. That actually makes 12, rather than the usual 10, complete with an asterix that reads “Yeah we’ve got R&B this year.” Something tells us this will be the first and last year that happens.

We were a bit surprised to see Sage and IamSu omitted given their heavy buzz, and we’re sure the Bay is none to thrilled about that.

Our pick of Gunplay was a gamble, but not surprisingly, the political MMG slot was instead filled in with their R&B artist, August Alsina, strangely.

We also knew Riff Raff was a bit of a stretch, considering that he isn’t taken that seriously, but we thought there might have been a ODB / wildcard type angle on that one.

Much love was given to the bubbling Chicago scene; we didn’t think there was any way that both Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper could make the list, let alone two rappers from the same city with “Lil” in their name, but hey. Afterthought, we would have picked Vic Mensa as well.

Jon Connor is DEF not a Freshman! He has two albums out and is signed to Aftermath. Hes been doin his thing since at least 2011, prob earlier. I have no clue who any of these guys are besides JC, Chance, and I. Rashad. I really love the Rashad album he put out in the beginning of the year. He def got his own sound, but a sound that goes in perfectly w/ TDE. Chance is ok but his voice is annoying. These other guys? Prob won’t last like a lot of the other Freshmen of the past.